Antiques in the service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Still from a video from April 2023, a unit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with Maxim machine guns mod. 1910/1930. Clearly civilian transport is visible in the background; another current problem of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is the lack of vehicles and tractors.
Literally in passing we can mention the rifle weapons.
The giggling and hawing about Mosin rifles among those mobilized from the People's Militia of the Donetsk People's Republic ended quite quickly. This situation was typical only for the Donetsk mobilized, but not for the Lugansk ones. Why is a topic for another discussion. But those mobilized were increased in terms of supply, and then the DPR NM units were included in the RF Armed Forces. Everyone has practically forgotten about “mosinki”.
A machine gun in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in, probably, the only role suitable for it in modern realities - the main weapon in a bunker or bunker. And here, too, on a rare Vladimirov machine from 1931. A real rarity.
But comedians under the leadership of a former Kaveen member began to have problems with small arms of all calibers already in 2022. It was not possible to solve them only at the expense of the Western allies, the problem was so acute and of such magnitude.
On the territory of Ukraine there are several huge warehouses that the country inherited from the USSR, these are:
– 65th Arsenal – ammunition storage base of the Central Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (outskirts of the city of Balakleya, Kharkov region);
– “Shepetivka Repair Plant” (military unit A-2394).
Yes, for many these are warehouses specifically for artillery weapons and ammunition for various artillery systems, as well as an enterprise for the repair and modernization of artillery weapons. But ask any collector of models of firearms from the Great Patriotic War period if he knows what Balakleya and Shepetovka are, and he will probably show you at least one item from his collection with the inscription on it - “Wined in Ukraine.”
At one time it was a whole business - the sale of Soviet warehouses. This also applied to small arms from the Great Patriotic War. Some of it was deactivated and sold in the form of models, including in Russia, some were sold as is. For example, rifles and submachine guns went to the USA. The famous YouTuber Hickok45 in one of his videos fired from a Thompson submachine gun, “which was imported from the former USSR.”
A still from a video with soldiers of the 46th Special Operations Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, where they complain about the “new” equipment issued when the unit was formed. All the unit’s machine guns turned out to be Soviet and manufactured in the 1930s–1940s.
Mosin rifles have not yet become a ubiquitous phenomenon, but Soviet machine guns that fought in the Great Patriotic War are already a widespread phenomenon in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Moreover, if somewhere they are found sporadically, then in parts of the local Volksturm (terrorist defense) and not only in the rear and in secondary, quiet areas, they can form the basis of machine-gun armament of entire units.
CBA-118
In 2013, at the exhibition “Zbroya and Bezpeka-2013”, a new development of the DP “KBAO”, which was part of the Ukroboronprom House of Culture, was presented - the 60-mm mortar KBA-118. The mortar was supposed to solve problems similar to those solved by the AGS-17, and at the same distances. Own, unique, unparalleled - and that’s all. Now the mortar is often positioned as a special forces weapon.
2016, the leader of Ukraine is shown the “newest” KBA-118.
The mortar is indeed unique, but not because of its characteristics, but because stories appearance, or rather, who are its progenitors. In fact, this is an exact copy of the Chinese Type 63-1 mortar. The Chinese model once fought in the civil war in China, then in Korea. From China, the already modernized version came to Pakistan and Egypt. A Pakistani copy under the designation Fateh fought with the hands of the Mujahideen against the 40th Army in Afghanistan.
How did the Chinese get their mortar?
And they copied, without any licenses, the American M2 mortar, which was also supplied to the Kuomintang troops during the war with Japan. This is how the Type 31 appeared, which later became the Type 63-1. And the American itself is a licensed copy of the French Brandt Mle 1935, which was put into service in 1935.
KBA-118 in the SVO zone. In the foreground is what makes the 80-year-old structure truly dangerous - American M768A1 mortar mines with M734A1 fuses.
It must be said that in fact, Brandt’s designs are the progenitors of all modern mortars, and the Mle 1935/M2 was a very successful design, quite widespread, copied and used in dozens of countries. But the fact remains that in 2013, the Ukrainian Armed Forces received a copy of a copy of an 80-year-old French mortar.
The mortar is still fighting and is a rather dangerous weapon, largely thanks to the latest generation of modern 60-mm ammunition supplied by Western countries, but that’s a completely different story.
BS-3
The weapon was created during the Great Patriotic War as a response to the emergence of new German heavy weapons. tanks and as an analogue of the German heavy anti-tank gun Pak 43. The resulting 100-mm field gun of the 1944 model (BS-3) turned out to be lighter and more mobile than its German counterpart, plus the USSR had already produced a suitable tractor for such a system by that time. Several hundred of these guns fought as part of the Red Army anti-tank artillery brigades at the final stage of the Great Patriotic War.
Ukrainian BS-3 in the NWO zone.
Like many other types of weapons, these artillery systems went to the new “independent” state in 1991. In 2012, it seemed that the age of these guns was over in Ukraine, and the BS-3 went into storage. But in 2014 the dust was blown off them again, and the guns returned to combat units. Over time, the guns were removed from the front.
But in 2023, they again began to appear in footage from the front. The situation with the artillery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, despite all the attempts of Western partners, is only getting worse, and during the battles near Bakhmut, old Soviet artillery systems, such as D-44 and BS-3, began to appear in photographs. There is no longer any need to talk about any anti-tank role of these guns; in fact, they are used for firing from closed firing positions outside the line of sight of the enemy.
Loading Lithuanian M101s for shipment to Ukraine, September 2022. Yes, this is how they transport weapons and ammunition to Ukraine, in ordinary civilian trucks across the border with Poland.
M101 Howitzer
This designation hides the American M2A1 howitzer of the 1940 model. The howitzer was renamed after World War II. A real weapon of victory for American artillerymen of World War II.
The gun, produced in a gigantic edition of more than 10 copies, fought as part of the US Armed Forces on all fronts of World War II, in Korea and Vietnam. It was distributed to the armies of dozens of countries and remains in service in many of them to this day.
Until recently, one of the last episodes of combat use of these howitzers was the battles in the Philippine city of Marawi in 2017. M101s of the Philippine Army destroyed the positions of Islamic fundamentalists in dense urban areas, both from indirect positions and with direct fire.
A still from the first video of the M101 being used in the Northern Military District zone, November 2022.
In September 2022, it was announced that Lithuania would transfer 16 guns from its stocks to Ukraine, namely from storage. As of the beginning of 2023, Lithuania seems to have gotten rid of all available M101s (54 units) in favor of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Slovenia donated another 16 guns.
Immediately upon arrival, these howitzers glowed actively in news issues. Information on the bright side was almost everywhere presented with the sauce - “Russians can be beaten even with such museum antiques.”
By the end of 2022, the flow of news about the M101 almost completely stopped, apparently due to their active elimination, there was nothing much to brag about.
M101 at the front, January 2023.
But Lithuania threw in more artillery systems, and the most surprising thing is that these guns, apparently, were still fighting in mid-2023. At least, the last current shots of the M101 in the front-line artillery units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine date back to the end of spring - beginning of summer 2023.
The safety factor built into the gun by American designers back in 1940, and new artillery ammunition from the same BAE Systems, fully allow these guns to compete in range with domestic 122 mm caliber systems.
In general, the current conflict has shown that range is the Achilles heel of all our artillery, but this, again, is a topic for another discussion.
The result of the work of our artillerymen is a hole in the frame from a fragment of a Russian shell, January 2023.
The SVO became a real melting pot, in which the entire Soviet weapons heritage of Eastern Europe was disposed of by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Now, unfortunately, things that are more than unique and historical have also gone there, the place of which is more likely in a museum.
But the situation may get worse, because some participants have a desire to continue the conflict at any cost, and the means will be found. There are examples, after all, the Japanese were seriously going to fight the Americans on their home islands with units of schoolchildren with sharpened bamboo sticks. There are still schoolchildren in Ukraine, and if necessary, they can deliver sticks.
A still from a video of the M101 being used at the front, early summer 2023. Everything is beautiful here, commenting only spoils it.
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